This should make for some lively discussion. I see streaming to a TV screen via Netflix/TV as a very "personal" kind of thing, linked to your personal Netflix account and your personal Tivo account. Not probably designed for academic institutions or public libraries to take advantage of.

We were discussing this here this morning, wondering if this new relationship between Netflix and Tivo affects our intention to collect videos in the future. We don't think it does. I believe what will be offered are feature films, not educational titles, most indies, documentaries, etc.

I really don't understand Farhad's comment "What I'm not convinced yet is the difference between "face-to-face" traditional classrooms with the instructor present vs. a log-in protected online classroom (access by
students registered for that class only)"

I think there is a huge difference, namely that face-to-face in a traditional classroom is 100% legal and restricted access streaming an entire audiovisual work to students in an online classroom is not 100% legal. It's just not. It's not fair use, it's not face to face, it's not covered by TEACH, so what makes you think it's okay?

I recently read something from a librarian at an academic institution (not mine) that has the capability to stream an (entire) video to one student at a time. She contended that because they were streaming to one user at a time, it was no different from having a video in the library that one student could look at. WHAT IS UP WITH THAT????? Does anyone on this list BELIEVE THAT?

Here's another story I have to add. Our School of Ed. conducts seminars that all students have to take to receive their teacher certification, such as fire safety and school violence. They are converting these seminars to the Blackboard environment, and wanted to use an entire (17 minute) video on school violence. Of course they tried to tell me they could do it without getting rights, and I said no, you can't, let me see about getting those rights for you. So I called up the company, who said this was their first such request but they were delighted to give me a quote. They wanted $1500/year or $5000 perpetual to stream this video. The School of Ed. has decided to make their own videos instead, because of this price for the streaming rights. I thought this cost was WAY out of line, but as I said, this was the first request the company had for something like that, and so I can't really blame them for just pulling a number out of ... well, you know.

But when Films Media Group has such a reasonable model for the price of streaming, it makes it hard to stomach the thought of paying $1500/year or $5000 for a video from 2001 on school violence, which will probably be outdated in about the next, say, 10 minutes.

VIDEOLIB is intended to encourage the broad and lively discussion of issues relating to the selection, evaluation, acquisition,bibliographic control, preservation, and use of current and evolving video formats in libraries and related institutions. It is hoped that the list will serve as an effective working tool for video librarians, as well as a channel of communication between libraries,educational institutions, and video producers and distributors.